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According to Zimparks statistics that were released to this publication, there is a significant increase in the number of foreigners that have been arrested for poaching this year. In the first half of 2023, 10 foreigners were arrested for poaching in Zimbabwe compared to six who were nabbed through out 2022. One hundred and eighty two locals were arrested for poaching in the first half of this year while in 2022, 644 Zimbabweans were charged for illegal hunting. Zimparks, a statutory body responsible for managing the country's wildlife population, said elephants…

Assets and goods seized and forfeited to the state during the finalisation of wildlife crime cases at special courts last year were valued at more than N$4 million. The seized items included illegal wildlife products, firearms and vehicles used in wildlife crimes. According to the Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement Report in Namibia, the judicial system faces a range of challenges in dealing with high rates of crime and ensuring justice is served; a central hurdle is a growing backlog of cases on the court rolls. "This has…

Johannesburg - The Wildlife Justice Commission has heralded the conviction of four for the trafficking of pangolin scales and ivory as a "ground-breaking" move that has laid bare the modus operandi of the criminal networks trafficking wildlife commodities. The commission made the announcement following the conclusion of the trial against three Vietnamese and one Guinean national who were arrested by the Nigeria Customs Service in May 2022 for trafficking 7.1 tonnes of pangolin scales and 850 kilograms of ivory. Phan Viet Chi, Phan…

Dumisani Gwala, who was in 2014 arrested on rhino poaching charges along with coaccused Wiseman Mageba and a third, since deceased accomplice, told Mtubatuba Regional Court that his arrest and charging following a sting operation was a case of mistaken identity.

The police in the Otjozondjupa region arrested two men aged 27 and 31 for allegedly attempting to poach a Rhino at a lodge outside Otjiwarongo. The two face charges of illegal hunting of protected game and trespassing.

Na raming is 93 renosters in 2022 gestroop, vergeleke met die 47 in 2021 en 43 in 2020.

An estimated 93 rhinos were poached in 2022, compared to 47 in 2021 and 43 in 2020.

Rhinos were the most-targeted high-value species in Namibia during 2022, comprising 24% of all registered wildlife cases, with poaching losses at their highest since 2015. This according to the wildlife protection and law enforcement report for 2022, which indicated that a total of 430 wildlife cases were reported last year - of which 106 were rhino poaching cases.

The country's anti-poaching and crime prevention initiatives managed to arrest 75 suspects in 106 cases related to rhino poaching in Namibia in 2022, a report released last week noted. The year 2022 saw the most rhinos poached in the country since 2015 when the first major poaching wave in independent Namibia peaked, the National Report on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement in Namibia revealed. The released report is based on data compiled via the Integrated Database of Wildlife Crime in Namibia, as well as related firsthand information and observations by…

Die Initiativen zur Bekämpfung der Wilderei konnten laut einem kürzlich veröffentlichten Bericht 75 Verdächtige in 106 Fällen von Nashornwilderei im Jahr 2022 festnehmen. Im gleichen Jahr wurden landesweit so viele Nashörner gewildert wie seit 2015 nicht mehr, so der Bericht "National Report on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement in Namibia".

Rangers at South African game reserves have been implicated in supplying information to rhino poachers. This is one of the forms of corruption that the Wildlife Justice Commission says is fueling wildlife crime. However, SANParks says it is implementing measures to reduce corruption, including a polygraph testing system.

A third suspect has been arrested in Rustenburg, in the North West, for the theft of 51 rhino horns from the offices of the North West Parks and Tourism in Mahikeng last month. The SABC reported at the time that the alleged criminals evaded all security on the premises and took the keys to the safe, from which they stole the horns worth R9 million. Spokesperson for the Hawks in the province, Lieutenant Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula, says, "The suspect is due to appear in the Mahikeng Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where he will be facing a business burglary charge."

Namibia's anti-poaching and crime prevention initiatives managed to apprehend 75 suspects in 106 cases related to rhinoceros poaching in Namibia during 2022, according to a report released Friday. The year 2022 saw the most rhinoceros poached in the country since 2015 when the first major poaching wave in independent Namibia peaked, the National Report on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement in Namibia revealed. The report is based on data compiled via the Integrated Database of Wildlife Crime in Namibia, as well as related firsthand information and observations by…

This was during his second appearance in the Lenyenye Regional Court after he was arrested in May. Nyalungu’s defence team requested that he be transferred to a Polokwane correctional facility due to difficulty to obtain his chronic medication in Thohoyandou where he was in custody until then. The court agreed and Joseph has been moved to Polokwane. Nyalunga was arrested on Saturday, May 27 in Kampersrus after a car chase involving the police. He allegedly has a long history of poaching and was first arrested in 2011 after being on police’s radar for several months.

The Wildlife Justice Commission has published details of a rhino horn trafficking case that includes the use of frozen seafood and 'mishandled baggage', as well as the failure of authorities not to publicly report their seizure of the horn. 

Excellent collaboration between police and security officers from a private game reserve resulted in the swift arrest of two suspects, as well as the confiscation of poaching equipment early on Friday morning 7 July. According to Col Priscilla Naidu, police spokesperson, it is alleged that at about 06:00, Port Alfred K9 members and the security officials stopped a vehicle on the R67 at Koonaprivier between Makhanda and Fort Beaufort.

Self-proclaimed prophet and founder of the House of Joy Ministries Jackson Babi has turned to the High Court to appeal his 27 years imprisonment sentence for rhino poaching in Gobabis. In his notice of appeal, filed in the Windhoek High Court on Monday, Babi (33) is claiming the sentence of 27 years imprisonment imposed on him by Gobabis Regional Court magistrate Eden Iyambo is shockingly inappropriate. He claims Iyambo overemphasised the seriousness of the offences at the expense of the mitigating circumstances.

The Hawks have arrested a second suspect allegedly linked to the stockpile hit at the North West Parks Board headquarters in Mafikeng last week. According to a Daily Maverick source, the suspect was apprehended in a planned operation near Brits at about 9pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning the arrest was confirmed by a senior SAPS officer who did not want to be identified.

It was successful day for multi-task team of detectives from the Endangered Species Unit, SANParks, Focused Conservation Solutions, Hoedspruit SAPS, and Hoedspruit Farm Watch when they made a breakthrough arresting five suspects for rhino poaching.

The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia last year was the highest on record and almost twice as many as the year before, officials say. A total of 87 rhinos were killed compared with 45 in 2021, official government data show. Most were poached in Etosha, Namibia's biggest national park, officials say. Rhino numbers in Africa have dropped significantly in recent decades to feed demand for rhino horn in China and Vietnam.

South Africa's national parks have put in place various measures to combat rhino poaching which threatens the existence of the endangered animal. Isaac Phaahla, media specialist for South African National Parks, a leading conservation authority in the country, said they have been constantly revising their strategies to fight poachers, who keep changing their tactics.

A poacher from Mozambique has been convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing two rhinos in the Kruger National Park.

The Hawks have arrested a man in connection with the theft of 51 rhino horns. The horns were stolen from a stockpile in the North West. The man is expected to appear in court on Monday to face a charge of business robbery.

Kenya will enhance partnerships with neighboring countries and regional blocs in a bid to protect abundant natural resources like wildlife from the clutches of organized crime, an official has said.

Fifty rhino horns stolen from a stockpile in the North West will likely leave South Africa as beads, mugs, or souvenirs, experts have said. The stockpile was stolen in the early hours of Monday morning from the North West Parks and Tourism Board in Mahikeng. Reports suggest the robbers evaded security measures, alarms, security cameras and bypassed the locking mechanism of the vault. Experts have speculated that the rhino horns may already be on their way to Asian markets, based on insights into how wildlife crime syndicates operate.

In the war on poaching, some of the best defenders have four legs. Trained canines are used in some of South Africa's national parks to detect wildlife contraband like rhino horns, pangolin scales, and ivory at airports and roadblocks. Other dogs are trained to track and apprehend poachers in the field. According to Save the Rhino, 9,885 rhinos have been lost to poaching in the last decade. But Carl Thornton, founder and director of Pit-Track K9 Conservation and Anti-Poaching Unit, says the numbers are likely much higher.

The Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has revealed that over the past 10 years, rhino horns weighing 865kg were seized during Sars Customs border operations between 2014 and 2021. Countries where rhino horns have been trafficked to include Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Dubai, Turkey and Nigeria.

In the past three years, gun battles between rhino poachers and the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) rangers have killed about 20 people. Wildlife economists say a country like Zimbabwe, which has a large rhino population, needs to continue to remain alert as the endangered species to be under threat from poachers. According to America-based wildlife organisation, World Animal Foundation, the rhino horn is estimated at US$65 000 per kg, which is more than the value of gold or diamonds.

Poaching intensified over the past three years following the 2018 decision by the government to disarm the anti-poaching unit under the DWNP. The 100+ rhinos poached since the disarmament represents a 100+ percent increase in poaching incidents when compared to the previous three years when Botswana lost one rhino per annum in the preceding 2015, 2016, and 2017 when the unit had firearms. There were at least 12 rhinos poached in 2018, 29 rhinos in 2019, and over 50 poached by the end of 2020.

A rhino conservationist has turned to the world of non-fungible tokens to help fund efforts to keep poachers at bay.

Police who arrested two men carrying a rhino horn on a highway near Witbank allegedly demanded a R30,000 bribe to release them.

The 11-count indictment alleges that Lokua and Mujangi worked with a middleman to smuggle four packages into the United States. In August and September, 2020, the defendants sent three shipments containing a total of about 49 pounds of ivory by air freight to Seattle. In May 2021, they sent another package with approximately five pounds of rhinoceros horn. At the same time, the defendants conspired to conduct large transactions via ocean freight, offering the buyer more than two tons of elephant ivory, one ton of pangolin scales, and multiple intact rhinoceros horns. On Nov.

Two rhino poachers have been sentenced to an effective 16 years' imprisonment each. The men were arrested in February when rangers from the Lower Sabie and Crocodile Bridge sections of the Kruger National Park reacted after three armed suspects were seen entering the park by crossing the border between South Africa and Mozambique, said police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala.

Two foreign nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested outside Seattle last week and indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and money laundering for allegedly smuggling elephant ivory and rhino horns into the United States.

Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have seized $3.5 million worth of ivory, rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales in a joint operation with United States officials, the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa said on Monday. Two wildlife traffickers were also arrested in the United States on Nov. 4, following a more than two-year investigation between the two countries and global police agency Interpol.

Kenya remains a leading spot for laundering proceeds of illegal wildlife trafficking, logging, and fishing in Africa, a report on illicit financial flow by Sentry shows. Dubbed 'Kenya Illicit Finance Risk and Assessment', the report says the country acts as a transshipment site for East Africa. According to the report, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, DRC, Zambia and South Sudan traffic their wildlife products via Kenya heading to Asian countries including China and Hong Kong via Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.

Airlink, the privately owned Southern African regional airline, will implement a company-wide programme involving training, new processes and supply chain interventions to identify and combat illicit wildlife trade. The illegal wildlife trade is valued between USD $50 to 150 billion (approximately between ZAR730 billion - ZAR 2,19 trillion at current exchange rates) per year and is one of the five most lucrative global crimes. Illegal killing and trading of wild animals is a global crisis, with species being hunted to extinction for their horns, skins and teeth.

Five men were arrested last week for conspiring to poach a rhino, while another was found guilty of illegal possession and dealing in python skins. He will have to cough up N$7 000 or spend 20 months behind bars. Meanwhile, three Namibians were arrested at Epukiro when they were found in possession of two live pangolins on 29 October. Tjovanga Kamburona, Tjarirove Kamburona and Nguvarua Tjombe were all charged for the illegal possession and dealing of controlled wildlife products.

Heartbreaking images show a rhino with tears running down its face after its horn was hacked off by cruel poachers in South Africa. The 4,500lb male Southern White rhino was left with a gruesome open wound and also had parts of the bone in its skull removed when it was attacked and left for dead in a game reserve.